Ryanair to cancel up to 50 flights a day for the next 6 weeks

Passengers have reacted angrily to the announcement of short notice cancellations by the airline, with some left stranded abroad.

Plans by the budget airline Ryanair to cancel as many as 50 flights from its schedule every day for the next 6 weeks have already started hitting the holidays of some passengers and we are warned to expect further disruption as it looks to increase its punctuality rate.

The airline has deemed it 'unacceptable' that the punctuality of its services have fallen under 80% during the beginning of September and it also has a backlog of staff leave that needs to be cleared by the end of the year, as it brings in a change to the structure of the holiday year.

Thousands of passengers affected

The move by Ryanair could affect up to 285,000 passengers and these will be offered refunds or allowed to switch to alternative flights. The £35 surcharge that the airline normally charges to change flights will be waived in these circumstances, but some passengers have complained that they have other travel and accommodation costs that are non-refundable.

The company has told passengers that unless they receive a cancellation email their flight will be operating as scheduled.

A Ryanair statement from Robin Kiely said: "By cancelling less than 2% of our flying programme over the next six weeks, until our winter schedule starts in early November, we can improve the operational resilience of our schedules and restore punctuality to our annualised target of 90%."

Short notice cancellations

Many passengers are being left in limbo about their travel plans and are calling on the airline to issue a list of the flights that are to be affected, rather than having to deal with short notice cancellations. Details of the affected flights as they are confirmed can be found here.

A lot of those affected by the cancellations have taken to social media to complain about the situation:

Compensation for cancelled flights

The European Passenger Rights legislation states that if the airline can't find you a suitable alternative flight they have to book you on a rival airline.

Under EU compensation rules if your flight is cancelled due to an issue that is within the airline's control you are entitled to assistance and compensation. If a flight is cancelled at short notice the airline must give you a full refund within 7 days or re-book the flight.

You can also claim up to £218 for short-haul; £384 for medium-haul; and £523 for long-haul flights.

A list of cancelled Ryanair flights as they are confirmed can be found here.